Sweden’s Opcon AB has signed a share purchase agreement (SPA) concerning the sale of the company’s business in compressor technology and Waste Heat Recovery. The deal includes the newly formed holding company, Opcon Compressor Technology AB, and the subsidiaries Svenska Rotor Maskiner AB, Opcon Energy System AB as well as 48.98% of the shares in the joint venture in China, Fujian Opcon Energy Technology Co. Ltd. The acquisition also includes all the intellectual property rights relating to compressor technology and Opcon Powerbox. The Opcon brand will also be transferred but will continue to be used by the Opcon Group during a transition period, according to a press release.
The press release further states that the purchase amount, following the performance of due diligence based on the accounts dated 31 March 2015, is set at SEK 400 million. 15% have already been paid, while the remaining 85% of the purchase amount shall be paid in cash upon the closing of the deal, which is expected to be 30th of October 2015, when the buyer will gain ownership of the transferred shares.
The SPA has been signed with the Chinese investment fund, Shanghai Xing Xue Kang Investment Partnership, which is controlled by the Chinese investment company, Fujian Xing Xue Xuan Yuan Capital Management Co., Ltd. This investment company was set up by Fujian Snowman Co. Ltd., which has a 29% stake, and other Chinese investors.
Snowman is Opcon’s largest regular customer and the second largest owner of Opcon, controlling 17% of the capital and voting rights.
– Svenska Rotor Maskiner AB (SRM) is a part of Swedish industrial history. That SRM and Opcon Energy Systems along with our new cutting-edge energy- and environmental technology Opcon Powerbox are now being sold to China is something of a sign of our times. The majority of our sales turnover in these companies already have Chinese final customers, and we see how the Chinese are now investing heavily in industry, renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. We are convinced that this agreement will be positive for the companies and their employees and we feel confident that this will give SRM and Opcon Energy Systems the increased resources and contacts needed in the fast-growing Chinese market in order to develop, grow and to employ even more people also in Sweden, says Rolf Hasselström, President and CEO of Opcon in the press release.
SRM was founded in 1908 as AB Ljungströms Ångturbin and is the inventor of the screw compressor, among other achievements. SRM is Opcon’s center-of-excellence for compressor technology and holds all intellectual property related to the compressor technology that has been developed by it since the 1930s. Opcon Energy Systems AB is the operating company in the compressor and waste heat recovery part of Opcon’s business and the owner of the Opcon Powerbox technology for generating electricity from low-temperature waste heat. The companies have around 45 employees and had a joint sales turnover of around SEK 71 million in 2014 with an operating profit EBITDA of around SEK 9 million.
